On the shared theme of the contextuality of art - geographic, historical, and cultural - in two otherwise dissimilar texts. Quatremère de Quincy's pamphlet Lettres à Miranda (1796, reissued 1836) condemmed the Napoleonic spoliation of works of art in Italy and argued that works of art were inseparable from their contexts. Cicognara's book, on Italian sculpture from Nicola Pisano to Canova, highlights patriotic ideology and 'Italian genius'. Cicognara began work on the Storia in 1809 during the ongoing spoliation; the two works are explored in the context of this tumultuous political environment. Quatremère de Quincy's text provided an important model for Cicognara. Incorporates some discussion of Pius VII's art preservation statute of 1802 and his acquisition of three Canova sculptures to replace stolen works. ;